Thermometers are interesting and useful devices. Thermometers let us understand the temperature and react accordingly in our daily lives by, for example, adding a layer of clothing or turning on the furnace. Thermometers also let us react accordingly in industry by, for example, controlling baking processes, curing processes, and other processes. Computers are also interesting and useful devices. Computers let us automate many tasks and have allowed the introduction of many productivity related applications, games, industrial processes, and manufacturing processes. Thermometers and computers have been paired to improve manufacturing processes by, for example, monitoring the temperature in an oven used for a rubber curing process. But not every computer has a thermometer. Thus, only computers that specifically included a thermometer may have been useful for certain temperature related applications.
Conventionally, sensors including thermometers, accelerometers, or gyroscopes were built into an apparatus that had a specific need for that sensor. Information transfer between a sensor and a processor in the apparatus may have been achieved through a custom purpose-built interface for a specific purpose. For example, an accelerometer or gyroscope in a smart phone may have provided information that could be used by the phone to determine whether the phone ought to display information in a portrait mode or in a landscape mode. The accelerometer or gyroscope in the smart phone may have provided data that was only visible to the smart phone and only usable by the smart phone.
If a computing device like a game console or smart phone did not have a particular sensor, then it may have been difficult, if even possible at all, for that computing device or an application running on the computing device to use sensor information. However, many applications are now developed with the expectation that certain sensor data will be available. When that data is not available, the application may not operate properly. Thus, application developers may have been burdened to provide multiple versions of applications, some of which operated with devices having built-in sensors and some of which operated on devices without built-in sensors. This increased manufacturing complexity, distribution complexity, and inventory control complexity, which in turn increased costs. Additionally, a computing device may only need a sensor occasionally. Building a sensor into a device when that sensor is only used occasionally may have added unnecessary cost to the host device. Additionally, powering the sensor even though it is rarely used may have wasted electricity or power.